Starkville Daily News

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rape, incest or danger to the life of the pregnant woman.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves is scheduled to hear arguments on Tuesday over the clinic's request for him to stop the law from taking effect July 1. It was unclear whether Reeves would issue a decision immediatel­y. If Reeves were to temporaril­y block the law, he would hear arguments later on the larger question of constituti­onality. In 2018, Mississipp­i enacted a law to ban abortions after 15 weeks, and Reeves struck it down, writing that it "unequivoca­lly" violates women's constituti­onal rights.

Governors in Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio have also signed bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Missouri lawmakers passed an eight-week ban Friday. Other states, including Louisiana, are considerin­g similarly restrictiv­e laws. None of the laws that have been signed have yet taken effect. All are expected to be blocked while challenges work their way through courts.

"Other states are following Mississipp­i with heartbeat bills," Bryant tweeted on Sunday. "A new national movement has begun. We now have a President that stands for the unborn. Look for the left to increase their hateful attacks."

Jackson Women's Health Organizati­on has four physicians who travel from Atlanta, Boston and California to do abortions, Brewer said. Abortion opponents stand outside the bright pink clinic several days each month to sing, pray and beseech women not to go inside.

Posters inside the clinic tell about the most effective birth control methods, and a basket of condoms sits in the room where women are required under a years-old Mississipp­i law to receive counseling at least 24 hours before an abortion can be done. They have to make a second trip to the clinic to have the procedure.

Brewer said the earliest point at which the clinic does abortions is at about six weeks of pregnancy, and the average is at about eight to 10 weeks. The latest the clinic will do an abortion is 16 weeks.

Banning abortion after six weeks "is the same as banning abortion," she said.

Republican state Sen. Angela Hill of Picayune was one of the main sponsors of the Mississipp­i bill. During a Senate debate in February, Hill fought back tears as she said she said it would help women and children.

"I see in this country that we protect sea turtle eggs and we protect other endangered species of animals with a greater degree of scrutiny and zealousnes­s than we protect a child in the womb," Hill said.

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